Tickets for the two new Rugby World Cup games to be played at Forsyth Barr Stadium will be available in July but it is too early to say how many and at what price they will be available.
And those people who want to refund their tickets for the game between Scotland and Georgia and buy tickets for new games at the stadium will not get any preferential treatment.
With four games now being played at Forsyth Barr Stadium, including three involving the heavily supported England side, tickets might become rarer than hens' teeth for the matches.
The refund policy announced by Rugby World Cup organisers yesterday said all tickets bought for games in Christchurch could be refunded, as could those for the match between Scotland and Georgia, which had been switched from Dunedin to Invercargill.
The refund process is on a huge scale, involving 20,000 customers and 150,000 tickets. Ticket refunds will be processed between April 8 and 30.
The priority-purchase period for those who have been refunded tickets and want to buy them again for the new venues is expected to be in the middle of May.
But those people will have to be buying tickets to the games they have been refunded. So someone living in Dunedin who had tickets to the game between Scotland and Georgia but wanted to buy tickets for an England game in Dunedin instead would not get preferential treatment.
Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd communications manager Mike Jaspers said tickets had to be bought like for like.
Once all priority-purchase tickets are allocated, the number of tickets available for the two new matches at Forsyth Barr Stadium will be decided. Tickets go on general sale in July.
Jaspers said it was impossible to say how many tickets would be available and how many people would take up the offer to transfer tickets.
With AMI Stadium holding 43,000 and the new stadium in Dunedin holding only 30,000, it may be a tight squeeze to get everyone in.
With the switch to Forsyth Barr Stadium, ticket categories may also change, as Carisbrook had only a few category A tickets. Sales were based on games being played at Carisbrook, but the new stadium should have a lot more higher-category tickets available.
Jaspers said they were aware of the issues and were working through the details.
